The smartphone market share report for full year 2018 from CounterPoint research highlights Nokia’s comeback as the 9th top smartphone brand. As per the report 17.5 million Nokia smartphones were shipped in 2018 which is a 126% jump over the 7.7 million shipments in 2017.
This accounted for 1% smartphone market share (rounded figure). Big smartphone vendors like Samsung, Apple, LG and other saw their market shares going down and shipments dwindling in 2018.
Coming to Q4 2018 results, it seems 4.6 million Nokia smartphones were shipped which is a 6% jump over the Q4 2017 figures. Though one can notice a small decline when compared to Q3 shipments figures of 4.8 million.
In comparison 4.5 million units were shipped in Q2 2018 and 4 million Nokia smartphones were shipped in Q1 2018.
So, while 2018 establishes HMD as a player and brings back Nokia brand to the vogue, HMD needs to build upon this success and grow faster in 2019. Nokia brand has been largely absent (except some unlocked smartphones) in one the largest smartphone markets, the US where it has recently announced entry via the prepaid route. In India also HMD has become more aggressive price wise slashing price of its mid-range and entry-level smartphones.
